


South West

by helgaahufflepuff



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies) RPF, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, First Kiss, First Meetings, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Married Tina Goldstein/Newt Scamander, Multi, Newt Scamander is a Sweetheart, POV Third Person, Post-Movie 2: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Pre-Canon, Pre-Movie 1: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Protective Newt Scamander, Protective Tina Goldstein, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-03-01 15:50:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18803440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helgaahufflepuff/pseuds/helgaahufflepuff
Summary: "The compass is a guide to your soulmate, Newt, it will always lead you home,"Newt Scamander knew he had a soulmate. Had known it from the moment that the compass came to life on his wrist. He just never imagined he'd ever actually meet them... especially not in New York City. But the compass never lies.





	1. The Mark

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! 
> 
> Its been a long time since I've written any fic but I've recently found myself sucked into a rabbit hole of Newtina fic and I couldn't resist writing my own, especially since there are hardly any Soulmate Au's out there! 
> 
> I'm not sure where this fic will go but I'm just going to enjoy writing it. I'll hopefully update every week but most likely every two weeks! 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy the first chapter, an introductory chapter of sorts, to South West!

Newt was four when the compass first flickered to life on his wrist. He’d been sat in the Hippogriff stables with his mother, watching her take care of the creatures in the gentle manner she always did. It had started off as a soft tingling which gradually grew into a sharp throbbing between his veins.

“Mum?” He said quietly.

“Give me a minute darling,” His mother, Theodora, smiled at her son as she brushed one of the Hippogriff’s hair.

Newt tried to wait patiently for her to be finished but the pain in his wrist was growing. It had turned from a slight throb to a full on burning sensation.

“Mum?” He tried again.

“Just a moment!”

Newt squeezed his eyes shut tightly, pressing his trembling lips together to stop himself from crying out in agony. His wrist was pulsing. Heat blistered in his bones, burning its way into his vein, his skin. His tooth sank into his bottom lip, blood welling instantly from the cut and a guttural sound came from his throat. Merlin’s beard it hurt! It hurt more than anything Newt had ever felt before.

“Mum!”

Theodora Scamander was over in a heartbeat, hands immediately reaching for her youngest son. A mother always knows when something is wrong with their child and Theodora knew from her son’s cry that something truly wasn’t right.

“Newt what is it? What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“My wrist…” Newt whispered. “It’s burning,”

His mother moved to inspect his wrist. Newt winced as she brushed her thumb over the tender skin of his inner wrist. It was flushed scarlet and hot to the touch, Theodora’s eyes widened as she assessed the area.

“Newt, sweetheart – ”

“W… What’s wrong with me?” He shivered as the burning continued.

“Oh, darling, nothing! Nothing is wrong with you,”

“Why is my wrist hurting so much then? I stayed away from the griffs like you asked me to - ”

“It’s not an injury darling, you’re perfectly fine,”

Fine? Newt frowned and looked down at his wrist again. It was still hurting but the burning had reduced to a sting now. He stared at the stark redness lining his pale freckled skin, his eyes catching on a raised line in the centre of his wrist. An arrow.

“Mum, what – ”

“It’s a soul mark darling,” Theodora said as she held her son’s delicate little wrist in her hand. “It means your soulmate has just been born,”

“My soulmate?” Newt murmured as stared down fervently at the little arrow as it began to spin. “I… I don’t understand,”

Theodora pursed her lips as she tried to hold back her smile. For all her little boy’s cleverness there were still so many things new to him, and this was certainly one of them.

“A soulmate, Newt, is a person’s perfect other half. Your souls speak to each other in a way that others simply can’t,”

His soul? Newt stared at the arrow in wonderment, his eyes eagerly watching it spin.

“Why is it an arrow?”

“The mark is an arrow because it’s pointing the way to your soulmate, it will lead you to them one day,” Theodora smiled at him.

The arrow had slowed and stopped spinning on his wrist now, settling into a diagonal position downwards.

“South West,” His mother said as her thumb stroked over the mark.

“Are they very far away?” Newt questioned quietly, eyes fixated on his wrist.

“Only time will tell darling, the closer you get to them the more of a… pull you’ll feel towards them. Can you feel anything right now?”

He could. There was a soft yet muddled tug in his gut. A pull towards an unknown person in an unknown place. A part of him thought he should feel scared, frightened even of the idea of half of his soul belonging to another person, but all Newt could feel was warmth. Indescribable warmth. His little fingers instinctively curled towards his wrist, wanting to stroke the mark.

“How will I know its them Mum?” He breathed. “What if I miss them by accident?”

“When the time comes for that you’ll know, my dear. When you meet your soulmate your mark will glow a beautiful gold and remain that colour from then on. You’d never miss them darling,”

Newt nodded in understanding though the worry didn’t completely leave him. A soulmate… _His_ soulmate. There was another tug in his tummy, an answer. He smiled gently at first and then his smile grew into a full on wobbly grin, his eyes dancing over his mark. Theodora beamed down at her little boy, squeezing him tightly in her arms. She suddenly jumped up and swung him up into the air. Newt shrieked with delight, giggles erupting from him.

“Come on my cherub,” Theodora grinned as she carried her son further into the stable. “We’ve still got a few more griffs to feed before dinner!”

“Yes mum!” His mother settled him onto the ground and went to feed the rest of the hippogriffs. Newt glanced at his wrist once more. His soulmate. Then with a wide smile he followed his mother further into the stables.

~

Across the Atlantic Ocean in a small wizarding hospital on the outskirts of New York city, Florence Goldstein held her new born baby girl in her arms.

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” She murmured to her husband, James, who was sat in a hospital chair beside her bed, head resting on folded arms at the side of the bed as he stared up at his wife and child.

“An absolute jewel,” He smiled at them both.

“Are we still agreed on the name?”

“Yeah, I think it suits her perfectly,”

Florence beamed at her husband and then turned her face down to look at her daughter.

“Hello there… little Porpentina,” She whispered in awe as her daughter wriggled in her arms. “Welcome to the world,”

The three of them sat in pure bliss. Florence and James stared unabashedly at the tiny bundle, both of them too enraptured to notice the small arrow etched onto the baby’s wrist. And when they did eventually notice, they’d see that the arrow was pointing North East.


	2. Love Isn't Always a Cure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt comes to realise that loving someone isn't always a good thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! As promise here's a chapter a week after the previous. I'm sorry if things get a little weary towards the end of the chapter, I feel like the beginning of the chapter starts out very strong but the ending doesn't feel as strong. Anyway, we need some angst to build this story up so here we go! Thanks to everyone who's supporting this fic, I sincerely appreciate it.

Falling in love with someone who isn’t your soulmate wasn’t unheard of, of course, but it wasn’t wise either.

Newt had known from the moment he’d met Leta Lestrange that she wasn’t his soulmate. The arrow on his wrist hadn’t moved since it first flickered to life when he was four years old, and it certainly hadn’t moved when he’d arrived at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry five years ago either.

No, Newt knew that Leta would never be his soulmate. And it pained him more each day.

Their friendship had started as a mutual understanding. The two of them were outsiders in their year group. Despite Newt belonging to the most accepting house at Hogwarts, his Hufflepuff peers had shied away from him immediately. The infatuation Newt held for all thing’s creature related scared his fellow housemates somewhat, and Newt, with his timid and reclusive nature, had never really tried to rectify their opinions. He had his creatures, such as the Bowtruckles he’d found on the schoolgrounds, and didn’t particularly need or want anyone else’s company. Leta, on the other hand, strove for acceptance in her house. For all of her cunningness, ambition, and resourcefulness, Leta was a pariah in Slytherin. Her housemates had sneered at her family lineage, deeming her the unwanted bastard child of the Lestrange family, and whispers about the unusual death of her half-brother Corvus’ followed her whenever she graced the common room.

The two were very much the opposite. Where Newt was all soft edges and calm as the Great Lake, Leta was pure fire and threatened to burn everything in her path. Newt often found himself a victim to her flames but could never quite bring himself to fight against her. He loved and admired her strength too much, and he knew it. There had always been something about Leta that drew Newt in. He could never tell if it was her confidence, her upmost certainty that whatever she did was right, whereas everything Newt did was entirely… wrong. His awkwardness shone through with his struggle to make civil conversation with his peers about anything other than the creatures he doted upon, and his gangly limbs and hesitant eye contact only added to this.

No, he was never quite sure if it was Leta being all that Newt was not that made him love her, but for all the love that he held for Leta, there were certain times when Newt found it hard to like her. There was a certain selfishness to the girl that Newt had never understood, an ambition for power and respect that he himself didn’t, and would never, crave. He knew that she desperately wanted to prove herself to those around her, and that she would use any means, no matter how dangerous, to achieve this. It often worried him late into the night, imagining what Leta just might do for her next trick, but he never commented. Never interfered.

Love could be just as much a poison as it could be a cure, and as Newt sat in Dumbledore’s office that day in 1913, he knew this statement to be true more than ever.

“I can’t say I’m not disappointed Newt,” Dumbledore sighed as he sat on the edge of his desk. “But I know your intent was never a malicious one.”

Newt twisted his hands anxiously in his lap, his thumb brushing over his soul mark repeatedly, and stared down at his shoes. He could feel Dumbledore watching him, trying to deduce what he was thinking no doubt. Newt didn’t dare meet the professor’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, Professor.” Newt murmured.

“What possessed you to do this, Newt?”

What had possessed Leta to do this? Newt couldn’t say. He’d tried to warn her about how malicious Jarveys could be, had actively asked her not to seek one out. As usual though, Leta hadn’t listened. Someone had been hurt. Someone had almost been _killed._ And Newt could have prevented it. He swallowed and continued to wring his hands.

“I don’t know.” He said meekly.

Dumbledore sighed again and pinched the bridge of his crooked nose. He’d done this several times in the last hour, and Newt couldn’t help but fidget guiltily every time he did.

“You realise someone could have died, correct?”

Newt flinched. Hearing Dumbledore say the words aloud only burdened his heart further. What had Leta been thinking?

“Yes, sir, I am so… so terribly sorry,” He whispered, keeping his eyes fixed on his shoes. “Will… will she be alright? The girl I mean.”

“Dorothy Crockford will be quite alright, Newt,” Dumbledore assured, a sympathetic twinkle gleamed in his eyes. “She will make a full recovery within a few days, the Jarvey’s bite wasn’t too deep,”

“Thank Merlin,” Newt breathed.

She would be alright. Out of everything, that was what had been worrying Newt the most. The Jarvey’s bite on her arm at the time had seemed so inflamed and swollen, and Newt had been taken away by the professors before he had been able to get a proper look at it. Leta had stood watching in the background, simply staring at the chaos descending around her. Whether or not she felt guilty, one wouldn’t be able to tell. Her face had been a perfect mask of indifference. But Newt knew her well enough to notice the glint of accomplishment in her eyes. His stomach twisted when he thought about it.

“You are aware of course, Newt, that possession of a magical beast is illegal? Especially one which has caused endangerment towards human life,” Dumbledore continued. “You’ve managed to breach a number of animal welfare laws within a few short hours and Professor Black is… considering expulsion as a form of punishment,”

Silence. Newt stared at Dumbledore, the professor’s lips continued to move but not a sound came out. Not one that Newt could hear anyway. Expelled. He would be expelled from Hogwarts, his wand snapped most likely and his creatures… would they take his creatures away? Merlin, he couldn’t breathe. It was as if he’d swallowed razors. His lungs burnt every time he managed to suck in a breath. What would his parents say? His mother would be so disappointed and his father… Gulping galleons, he couldn’t even begin to imagine what his father would do. He was a disgrace to the Scamander name, would always be a disgrace –

“Newt, my boy, do calm down,” Dumbledore said as he placed his hands on Newt’s shoulders. “I can assure you that I will do everything in my power to convince Headmaster Black that expulsion is by no means necessary,”

“Not… Not necessary, Professor?”

“No, my dear boy, I do believe that expelling you is not the way to handle this situation. We will of course have to inform your parents, but I see no reason for an expulsion.”

“But Professor, my actions… Someone was seriously hurt,” Newt bit his lip. “Surely I deserve whatever punishment the Headmaster sees fit?”

“Your actions were certainly foolhardy, Newton, but I know you well enough to know that you did not intend for anyone to get hurt,” Dumbledore said with a knowing smile. “You would do anything to protect those around you, it is one of your noblest qualities.”

Newt didn’t feel noble. He felt used up and exhausted. Like he hadn’t slept for three days straight. He could feel Pickett beginning to stir restlessly in his breast pocket beneath his robes, the Bowtruckle clearly upset from all that had occurred earlier in the day.

“Thank you, Professor. For everything. I promise nothing like this will ever happen again.”

“See to it, Newt, I’m not sure Professor Black would take to kindly to an incident such as this again. I would advise you go back to your dormitory for now and stay there, the Headmaster and I still have much to discuss.”

Newt stood from his chair, gave the professor a sharp but grateful bow and then turned to leave. He was almost out of the office door when Dumbledore called after him.

“Send my regards to Miss Lestrange when you see her, Newt.”

Newt stopped and stared wide-eyed at his professor for a moment. Then scurried out of the room, closing the door gently behind him. Of course, Newt thought stupidly, that man doesn’t miss a thing.

The corridors in the school were eerily quiet. Newt knew that everyone had most likely been sent back to their dormitories for the rest of the day or had gathered for dinner in the Great Hall. It was rather late in the afternoon after all. He was glad there weren’t any students lurking about though, he didn’t feel quite ready for the stares and taunting to begin just yet. No, he needed a night to process all that had happened. He needed to write to his parents and apologise for what he had done. And first thing in the morning he decided that he would visit Dorothy Crockford in the hospital wing. He owed her a deep apology, one that she had every right to refuse. Nevertheless, an apology on Leta’s behalf was warranted and Newt knew that this would naturally fall to him.

“Newt!”

Speak of the devil. Newt stopped in his tracks as he rounded the corridor to the kitchens. Leta Lestrange was leaning against the wall opposite the large pile of barrels that concealed the entry way into the Hufflepuff common room. The carefree way in which she stood had always seemed beautiful to Newt, but now he felt a swell of anger as he watched her. How could she possibly be so carefree after what she had done?

He made to walk past her but Leta grabbed his arm.

“Hey! What happened, what did Dumbledore say?” She asked eagerly.

“He, er,… I almost got expelled.”

“Expelled? For a silly trick like that,” Leta laughed wildly. “This school never fails to surprise me.”

“A silly trick?” Newt said quietly as his curly hair fell over his eyes. “With all due respect I… hardly think that this is a simple trick, Leta.”

“No one got hurt… badly,” She grinned.

Newt bit his lip and tried to carry on walking.

“Newt, come on! I’m only yanking your wand. Stop taking everything so seriously, everything’s fine!”

“F-fine?” Newt practically spat the word out. “You think everything is fine?”

“Well you haven’t been expelled – ”

Newt span round to face Leta. His shoulders and arms were shaking, his bottom lip trembling. He had tried to quell the fury, the utter heartache gaping inside of him, but he couldn’t. She didn’t understand, would never understand.

“Every… everything is not fine,” He whispered though there was an edge of steel to his tone. “Dorothy Crockford is injured and in the hospital wing, the… the poor Jarvey, who I warned you to stay away from, will probably be taken away by the ministry. I’ve been threatened with expulsion and you…”

Newt’s eyes welled with tears as he stared down at his soul mark and said. “You… you know how hard I’ve been working to prove to people that magical creatures aren’t dangerous, Leta!”

Leta stared at him, completely shocked by his outburst. He’d known she would be. When in all the years that he’d known her had ever really stood up for himself? He began to fidget under her scrutiny, his right hand twisting nervously around his wand and the left brushing over his wrist. His soul mark.

“I… I think people were finally starting to listen – ”

“They weren’t,” Leta interrupted, her shocked face turning to one of self-assurance. “Nobody is ever going to listen to us Newt, that’s why we have to make them! Don’t you see?”

“No… no, I don’t.”

The two teenagers stared at each other in silence for a few moments. Newt bit the inside of his cheek, sinking his tooth hard into his gums. Leta was bracing herself for an argument, but he was so tired. He couldn’t do this anymore.

“I… I used to think you could have been my soulmate once,” He admitted as he looked up at her face for the first time. “I’m… glad I don’t think that anymore, glad that you aren’t.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Leta snapped.

Newt hesitated. “It means that – ”

“Am I not good enough for the great Newton Artemis Fido Scamander now?”

“No, I, no… I just… Leta –”

“You just what?” She hissed.

“My soulmate would never be a person who puts a creature in harm’s way,” Newt said his voice full of conviction for once. “And nor would my friend.”

“So what are you trying to say, Newt?”

“I… I’m trying to say…”

Merlin’s beard this was hard! Newt didn’t even know what he himself was trying to say, he just knew that something between them wasn’t right anymore. The pair of them were like a broken bone that had been set the wrong way, healed but never able to be the same. He could feel the panic rising inside of him as he realised this. He loved Leta, would always love her, but…

“Oh, I get it,”

“You… you do?”

“You don’t want to be friends anymore,” Leta said bitterly. “You’d rather spend your time with your creatures than with me?”

“Leta, I don’t –” Newt hesitated. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. Sorry for ever wasting my time on someone like you!” Leta shouted, livid tears brimming in her eyes. “I’m glad you aren’t my soulmate either, I thought it would have been nice once but I’m glad you aren’t because I think you would have driven me bloody mad!”

Newt recoiled away from her immediately, his hand clasping his wrist.

“All you ever do is talk about your creatures, Newt! There are other topics of conversation if you hadn’t noticed? And I’m not the only one thinks that, the entire school does as well!” She screamed as she gestured frantically with her arms. Some of the Hufflepuffs seemed to have heard the commotion and were appearing behind the barrels now. “You would have been lucky to have had someone like me as your soulmate, as your friend even, because at least I acted as if I was interested in what you were saying! Your soulmate, if you ever find them, I’m sure won’t be able to stomach it either.”

Newt was shaking his head wildly. No, no, his soulmate would accept him… always.

“And even if you do find your soulmate, Newt, what’s to say they won’t turn around and walk the other way,” Leta smiled unkindly at him. “You are too weak to fight for anyone, too soft. You were too weak to fight for me,”

Newt felt his entire world collapsing around him. His whole body was trembling, and he could feel his breathing becoming ragged. He had to leave, there were far too many eyes watching them. Watching him completely fall apart. He turned around quickly towards the Hufflepuff barrels, and shakily taped his wand in the familiar entry pattern against them.

“I’m glad I’m not your soulmate, Newt Scamander,” Leta called after him before he threw himself through the round entrance of the Hufflepuff common room. “I pity whoever is,”

The door slammed shut behind him. Newt collapsed in a heap on the floor, his robes dangling over his head. He could faintly hear gasps and murmurs from around the common room, his Hufflepuff peers shocked no doubt to hear the argument which had occurred outside. Newt knew he should have started to apologise to them all, but he couldn’t bring himself to do anything more than pick himself up from the floor and scurry through the room and up the winding steps to his dorm.

His room was luckily empty for the moment, though he knew it would not remain this way. He quickly walked to his bed at the far corner of the room and pulled the blankets off, not bothering to change his clothes, climbing into the cool, worn sheets. He breathed quietly for a few moments, and then his breaths came more rapidly, unrestrained. Hot tears blurred his vision and he pushed his face into his pillow, his growing sobs muffled by the soft fabric. Pickett, the poor little fellow, climbed out from his breast pocket and settled on his shoulder, snuggling up against Newt and trying to offer any semblance of comfort possible.

He had said some unkind things to Leta this evening, he knew that, but despite everything he had said he had still gone down defending her earlier in the day. Taking the blame for that Jarvey when even Professor Dumbledore knew full well it was not his doing. And she had dared to accuse him of not fighting for her, for being too weak. Her lack of understanding, her little to no care for the Jarvey, for Dorothy, for what she had put him through had proven too much.

Newt would have done absolutely anything for Leta’s sake, protected her no matter what it cost him. The favour, he now knew, wasn’t returned. He had known deep down what she was like, what she would to do to win people’s attention but… _Not like this_ , he thought to himself. _Not when it involves a creature._

What she had said had hurt Newt, of course it had, but what she had said about his soulmate… that was an entirely different affair. It terrified him down to his bones. Because what if for once, Leta was right. Maybe his soulmate wouldn’t like creatures, wouldn’t even like him. And what if… just what if his soulmate did walk away from him?

She’d touched on some deep fear in him that Newt didn’t even know he had, and as he turned his head up from the pillow and lifted his wrist up to look at it, he couldn’t help but think: What if she’s right… what if even my soulmate doesn’t want me? _What will I do then?_


	3. Just A Smidge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tina grows tired of waiting for her soulmate to appear, and Queenie does her best to support her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> Thanks for waiting patiently for this chapter. I really loved writing it as I really got to explore the dynamics between Tina and Queenie in a fun yet serious way which was lovely. It was fun, but difficult, to write about the girls time spent at Ilvermorny since we don't know much canonically. Whilst writing this chapter I listened to 'My Grand Plan' from the Lightning Thief musical, it suits Tina's character so well for this particular chapter and really inspired me whilst writing it. 
> 
> Hope you all don't kill me for the upcoming angst, trust me it's totally necessary! 
> 
> Also thanks again for all the lovely comments and kudos. I really appreciate it. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Porpentina Goldstein was sixteen when she decided that she didn’t want a soulmate anymore. She was sick of the whole idea if she was being honest with herself. For as long as she could remember, the little arrow on her wrist had pointed North East. As a child, Tina had studied the mark vehemently. She’d gone to sleep every night staring bleary eyed at it, wondering who her soulmate was, what they would look like, and when she would meet them. 

 Before her parents had died, Tina had constantly asked them about how they’d met. When they knew they were soulmates. Her parents had always indulged her, telling her the story of how they’d met during their school years at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and how maybe someday Tina might meet her own soulmate there too.

 When she’d first arrived at Ilvermorny she’d been a frightened twelve year old girl, newly orphaned and separated from her younger sister Queenie for the first time in her life. With each step away from the life she knew in New York, Tina had desperately clung to the idea that maybe… just maybe, her soulmate would be there. But no matter how close she got to Ilvermorny, her compass didn’t move an inch. And when she finally stepped through the gates of the school, she lost hope of finding her soulmate that year completely.

  _Maybe my soulmate is younger than me_? She’d thought as she waited in line to be sorted into her house. It was entirely possible that her soulmate would be there next year instead. That thought alone and the certainty that Queenie would be joining her too, helped Tina survive her first year at school. Yet, the next year came and her compass still had not moved. Year after year, Tina waited eagerly for the compass on her wrist to come to life whenever she passed through Ilvermorny’s gates and every year her arrow did not budge. 

  In her fourth year, Tina had begun to give up hope of finding her soulmate at school and by her fifth year, at sixteen years old, Tina abandoned the idea of wanting a soulmate entirely. After years of desperately seeking for hers, she had grown tired of waiting for them. She found solace in her studies instead and threw herself into becoming the top student of her year. She was already a member of the school council and she was determined to graduate Ilvermorny as either the head of the council or valedictorian at least. It was ironic, however, that as soon as Tina had stopped showing an interest in finding her soulmate, everyone around her seemed to find theirs.

 So when Queenie burst into her dormitory one Thursday evening, whilst Tina was writing an essay for her Charms class and screamed “Irene Everlove and Stanley Griffin are soulmates, can you believe it?” Tina was so surprised, and somewhat irked, that she toppled off of her desk chair.

 “Queenie, for the last time I told you that you can’t just come running into my dorm room! The other Thunderbirds are getting annoyed. You aren’t even meant to know our password.”

 “Oopsie…” Her sister had the gall to look somewhat embarrassed, a sheepish blush blooming on her cheeks. “Sorry Teenie.”

 Tina sighed as she pushed herself up from the floor and picked up the fallen chair. She sat back down and swivelled the chair to face her desk once more. Queenie flopped onto her stomach on Tina’s small four poster bed, kicking her laps back and forth playfully behind her, her hands fingering her sister’s quilt adorned with scarlet and gold swirls. The quilt bore the same colours as Tina’s school robes and the Thunderbird crest.

 “Did you hear what I said? Irene and Stanley are soulmates!” Queenie sighed in wonderment. “Isn’t it beautiful, Teenie?”

 “Sure… good for them I guess.” Tina scorned as she continued with her essay.

 “Aren’t you excited for them?”

 “Queenie don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t particularly care.”

 Queenie pouted at her, jutting her lips out and narrowing her vivid green eyes. “You’re no fun these days, you know that?”

 Tina rolled her eyes but ignored her sister. She had to finish this essay tonight or else she’d be behind in her assignments, and with exams drawing closer dallying in her classes was the last thing Tina needed.

 “D’you reckon they’ll get married?” Queenie pondered as she picked a stitch in Tina’s quilt.

 “Who?”

 “Irene and Stanley!”

 “Queenie, shouldn’t you be getting back to your dorm?” Tina sighed tiredly.

 “Don’t avoid the question,” Queenie said as she sat up and folded her arms across her chest.

 “But it’s almost – ” Tina broke off as she eyed her wristwatch. It was only 7:56pm. “Curfew” She finished lamely. Queenie smirked at her triumphantly, her soft dimples making her look young and beautiful in a way which Tina never would be. “Was there anything else you wanted besides needing to gossip?”

 Queenie stared at her for a moment before she said with a touch of accusation “You weren’t at dinner.”

 The accusatory tone in her sister’s voice made Tina’s heartache for a moment, for she knew that what her sister said did not come from a place of anger but rather a place of concern. Tina, who had met Queenie for dinner every single night for dinner since Queenie’s arrival at Ilvermorny, had not come to dinner nor had she warned her little sister that she wasn’t coming either. Of course Queenie had been worried.

 Tina winced. “I’m sorry, I had to finish this essay. I didn’t mean to skip dinner, honestly.”

 “It’s okay.” Queenie said quietly as she turned back to picking at Tina’s quilt.

 Chewing her lip, Tina stared at her sister anxiously. She hated letting Queenie down, it was one of the many things Tina strove to avoid at all costs, and when it did happen she felt as though someone had reached into her chest and dug their fingernails into her heart. Her sister hurting was something Tina simply could not stand.

 So, she did the one thing that she normally abstained from doing. She took a deep breath and then thought very loudly in her mind _I promise you Queenie, it won’t happen again_. Queenie smiled almost immediately, her lips stretched wide across her delicate porcelain cheeks. It was very rare for Tina to actively communicate with her sister through her mind, she always tried to keep her thoughts as private as possible from her younger sister. Which was certainly difficult when your sister was a powerful Legilimens, but Tina tried her best. Queenie therefore knew how sorry Tina was for neglecting their dinner and wasted no more time dwelling on the subject.

 “So, as I was saying… d’you think Irene and Stanley will get married?”

 “I don’t know,” Tina shrugged as she turned her attention back to her desk. “Maybe after they graduate, they are still in sixth year after all.”

 Queenie sighed blissfully, resting her chin in her hands and looked very much like a schoolgirl sick with love. “I wish I could meet my soulmate.”

 “I don’t.”

 “What… what do you mean, Tina?”

 “I don’t want to meet my soulmate. Period.” Tina said casually, too casually, as she crossed out a sentence, her fingertips beginning to stain with ink.

 A silence stretched between the pair of them, the only sound was Tina’s quill scratching quickly against parchment paper. Tina hadn’t even really realised what she’d admitted until she felt something sharp hit the back of her head.

 “Ow!” She yelled raising her hand to protect the back of her head. She had no idea what Queenie had thrown at her, until her eyes caught sight of a familiar shoe at the foot of her desk. She picked it up and turned to her little sister incredulously. “Did you… did you just throw a shoe at my head!”

 “You were being stupid,” Queenie huffed.

 “So that warranted you throwing a shoe at me!”

 “What do you mean you don’t want to meet your soulmate?” Queenie asked, concern written all over her face. “That’s all you’ve wanted since… Mercy Lewis, I don’t know how long! Why do you suddenly not want that anymore?”

 “It doesn’t…” Tina bit her lip. “It doesn’t matter. Can we not do this right now? I need to get on with this -”

 “Oh Teen, would you come away from those books for just two seconds and talk about this!” Queenie pleaded as she draped herself dramatically across Tina’s bed. “Pretty please?”

 Tina hesitated for a moment then sighed and stood up from her desk, her chair scrapping against the wooden floor. She strode over to her bed and sat down next to her sister, pulling her legs up beneath her. She could feel Queenie’s eyes roaming anxiously over her face, and out of habit Tina self-consciously tucked her short black hair behind her ears.

 “Now,” Queenie said as she sat up and crawled closer to Tina. “Where’s all this nonsense about not wanting to meet your soulmate come from?”

 Tina shrugged and picked at her nails.

 “Tina!”

 “Alright, alright!” Tina said holding up her hands placatingly. “Jeez, keep your hair on.”

 “Are you gonna answer the question?”

 “I don’t know what you want me to say… I’ve decided that I don’t want to meet my soulmate. End of story.”

 “Not end of story! For how many years have you been going on about wanting to meet your soulmate, and now you’ve suddenly changed your mind,” Queenie gestured wildly as she spoke. “Did something happen?”

 Tina snorted. “Nothing’s happened, that’s kind of the point Queenie. I’ve been waiting my entire life for my soulmate to magically appear and they just… haven’t.”

 “Well, I haven’t met my soulmate yet either. Doesn’t mean I won’t meet them in the future though,”

 “No, I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything like that I just…” Tina expelled her breath. “I thought I’d have met mine by now that’s all.”

 “Not everyone meets their soulmate at school, Teen.”

 “Momma and Papa did.”

 “Yeah,” Queenie murmured with a small smile on her face. “They did, and don’t get me wrong their story is wonderful, but Teenie we aren’t them.”

 Tina screwed up her lips defensively, her chest automatically rising in a way which Queenie immediately recognised as her sister readying for battle. A battle which if started Queenie knew she would not win.

 “And that’s not a bad thing!” Queenie added quickly. “They would want us to have our own adventures, not relive theirs. Our lives don’t have to be completely identical to theirs, Tina.”

 “I know,” Tina conceded as she dropped her shoulders. “I know. I’m just tired of the whole thing now, it’s taken up so much of my time. For years it was all I could think about and now… I just don’t want to anymore.”

 “Aw Teenie come on!”

 “I’m being serious!”

 “You can’t really mean that. I’ve seen the way you look at your mark.”

 Tina winced and, without even thinking about it, slipped her fingers over the arrow on her wrist. Her sister watched her do this with knowing eyes. The tender way in which Tina’s fingertips traced reverently over the mark did not match with what she said next.

 “I am done waiting around for a soulmate who… I may not ever even get to meet,” She said as she curled her hand into a fist, her voice now perfectly poised. “I have bigger things to focus on now, anyway.”

 “Such as?” Queenie implored cocking her head to the side, her blonde curls bouncing as she moved.

 Tina jutted her chin out defiantly. “I’ve decided that… after I graduate, I’m going to become an Auror.”

 “An Auror! Oh, Teenie that’s wonderful! How did you manage to hide that little secret? Never mind!” Queenie beamed at her sister. “Is that why you’ve been cooped up in here studying so much lately?”

 “If I want to be taken seriously by MACUSA I have to have the highest grades possible.”

 “Of course they’ll take you seriously! Why wouldn’t they?”

 “I think you’ve forgotten Queenie, MACUSA doesn’t employ female Aurors very often.”

 Queenie wrinkled her nose in distaste. “They should really get off their high hippogriffs, women Aurors are just as good as any men they happen to hire.”

 “Mercy Lewis, I know,” Tina snorted. “But that’s just how things are, and I don’t have the time to slack off anymore if I have to prove myself,”

 "Teen, you barely slacked off before anyway!”

 “Well now I have even less time to do so,” Tina declared as she stood from her bed and made her way back over to her desk. “I have about a hundred things to do each day and little time to actually do them all. This Charms essay, for example, is due in tomorrow and I’ve only just found time over the last week to actually sit down and write the damn thing.”

 Queenie hummed in reply as she too stood from the bed, stretching her arms over her head. “On that note then, I should probably be getting back to my room. Wouldn’t want to get locked out again like the last time.”

 Before Queenie could reach the door though, a mumble echoed through her mind. _Hey Queenie_ … it whispered. _Thanks. For the support I mean. I… really appreciate it_. Queenie smiled in a way which could only be described as a toothy smile, her teeth gleaming as she listened intently to her sister’s thoughts. She turned and bound across the room, wrapping her pale arms around Tina and the chair her sister was sat on. Tina squawked at the sudden contact.

 “Queenie!”

 “I’m so proud of you, Teen!” Queenie exclaimed as she rubbed her cheek into her sister’s hair.

 “Queenie, get off me!”

Queenie giggled but did as her sister asked, she unwound her arms for her sister’s chest and skipped back over to the bedroom door. Tina, believing her sister was quite finished, turned her attention back to her essay. She was just about to put her quill back against the parchment when she heard Queenie say softly from the door.

 “Don’t give up on your soulmate just yet, Tina. I have a funny feeling they’re gonna fall into your life when you least expect them to." 

 Then the hinges of the door squeaked open and Queenie vanished from the room leaving silence in her wake. Tina stared in shock at the half written piece of parchment on her desk for a few moments. She stared for so long that she didn’t notice the splotch of ink that had dripped from her quill until she accidentally smeared it with her thumb against the parchment. She put the quill down and then lifted her head back up, her eyes immediately snagging on the small, misshapen salamander teddy sat in the corner of her desk. Her grandmother had knitted it for her a few years before her parents had died, and Tina had taken it everywhere with her since. It was odd how captivated she was by the thing, how connected she felt with it whenever it was near. It wasn’t just toy magical creatures that had caught her attention when she was younger though, it had been real ones too. Even now she often found herself drawn to the small magical creatures which roamed the school grounds, though she could never explain why.

 Whatever the reason, looking at the creatures, real or fake, had always provided Tina with a weird sort of strength. One that she could never explain. As she stared at the salamander that strength, that sheer source of confidence bloomed in her chest once more.

 “Alright,” She said cracking her knuckles and grabbing her quill. “Let’s do this!”

 And as Tina collapsed into her bed in the early hours of the next morning, hands inked stained and red from writing so much, she did not notice, or maybe care, that her arrow had moved ever so slightly. Just a smidge.


	4. I Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt heads to New York City to set Frank, the Thunderbird, free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thanks for patiently waiting for this chapter! I've tried to stay at canonical to the film as possible in this chapter, though I will warn you that there is some divergence and there will continue to be divergence throughout this fic, though it should never be anything too major. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

The sun slowly crept up into the morning skyline, casting shadows around the steam boat which chugged into the New York City harbour. A flock of seagulls swooped overhead and Newt, who was perched on a bench in the middle of the ship, tilted his head up to marvel at the creatures as they flew over.

 After eleven days at sea, Newt was more than happy to see the unfamiliar skyscrapers of New York coming into view. His skin, which his mother had often compared to the colour of a pearl, was sun-kissed and freckled due to being sat out on the deck of the ship for the past several days. He could feel the tangles and snarls in his reddish hair from the wind and knew he should probably drag a comb through it before the ship docked, but he didn’t want to move. He was just content to sit and watch as the city drew closer.

 By his feet sat a battered brown leather case adorned with scratch marks. Newt had been so consumed by what lay in front of him, he jumped when he heard the familiar flicking of one of the case’s latches. He sighed but smiled in bemusement as he bent down and placed the case on his lap.

 “Dougal,” He whispered as he leant his face close to the worn leather. “You settle down now, please. It won’t be long.”

 He wound his arms around his case and kept it perched precariously on his thighs. He could feel his creatures roaming around in the deep depths of their enclosures, some – such as Dougal – pacing relentless, others such as the occamies were settled peacefully in their nests. A small smile quirked on Newt’s lips. He always felt better when his creatures were close by. Since leaving school, his case had travelled with him everywhere. From the quaint streets of Southern France to the Indian desert Namib, there was not a single trip Newt went on now where his creatures did not accompany him.

 Now, however, to his great sadness it was time to let one of his beloved creatures go. Frank, a beautiful gold and white Thunderbird, had been in his case for a few months now, rehabilitating after the despicable treatment he had suffered from the hands of his previous owners. Newt had been so very grateful to Dumbledore for informing him about Frank, he could only imagine the awful fate which would have befallen the creature had he not freed it from the traffickers.

 But Frank was healed now, and it was time for him to return home. Newt knew that the arid heat of Arizona would be a blessing after the many months Frank had sweltered under the Egyptian sun. It was for the best, Newt knew, to return Frank home after he had been away for so many years. Yet it still broke his heart slightly to part from the beast. He had a rather soft spot for thunderbirds, though he could never quite put his finger on what it was about them that called to him.

 Nevertheless, it was Frank’s time. And with this in mind, Newt stood resolutely from his seat and walked over to one of the ship’s railings, his left hand grasping the bar whilst the other clutched his case. His eyes danced over the city once more, a sense of anticipation thrumming in his blood. He was so deep in his thoughts, that he failed to notice the tingling in his wrist.

 A few hours later, Newt stepped off the plank of the ship, squeezing his way through the bustling crowds at the shipyard and joining the queue at Customs. His fingers squeezed around his case’s handle, his thumb sliding back and forth repeatedly in an effort to soothe not only himself but the creatures within. Newt wasn’t a fan of big crowds and tended to avoid them as often as he possibly could. He stared down awkwardly at his feet as he waited.

 “Next!” A nasally American voice called.

 Newt stepped forward and gave his passport to the customs official, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he waited.

 “British, huh?” The official questioned, eyes flicking over the passport.

 “Yes,”

 “Anything edible in there?” The official said as he gestured at Newt’s case.

 “No,” Newt murmured innocently, crossing his hand over his breast pocket as if he were making a vow. The official stared him down.

 “Livestock?”

 It was at that precise moment the latch on his case decided to flick free. Newt felt his face flush slightly as he tried to quickly reach down and close it discreetly.

 “Must get that fixed,” He mumbled.

 The official crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow suspiciously. “Let me take a look.”

 Newt swallowed and hesitantly placed the case on the desk between them, discreetly flicking a brass dial on the lock to ‘Muggleworthy’. The customs official span the case around to face him and pops the lid open, eyes assessing the assortment of pyjamas, various maps, a journal, an alarm clock, a magnifying glass and a Hufflepuff scarf folded neatly on the top. Newt stared off to the side, his eyes occasionally flickered back to the official every now and then.

 “Welcome to New York,” The customs official grunted and passed Newt’s passport back.

 “Thank you,” Newt smiled fleetingly and then hurried past, long legs nearly tripping over themselves.

 He hurried out onto the streets of the city, the taste of sweat coating his tongue as hundreds of bodies swarmed around him. Muggles dashing to and from work, mothers tugging their children along quickly as they hurry to the nearest market, and lovers holding hands freely as they strolled down the pavement. Everything in New York was fast-paced and somewhat chaotic in a way that London was not, and Newt could not help but stare around in wonder as the city revels around him.

 It wasn't long before he realised that he was not entirely sure where he was meant to be going. He hastily pulled a piece of worn paper from his pocket, eyes darting over the scribbled directions he’d written down in England before boarding the ship. He was about to turn around and start walking the opposite direction, when his eyes caught sight of his wrist and he went completely still.

  _When…. When did it…_ He couldn’t even form the words in his mind. He lifted his wrist close to his face, eyeing his soul mark greedily.

 For the first time in Newt’s entire life the mark had moved.

 For as long as he could remember, the arrow had always pointed south west. It had never budged once, no matter where he had been in England, the arrow had remained in a fixed position. Yet, the arrow was no longer pointing south west but instead pointed straight ahead, the tip fixed in a northern position. His soulmate was somewhere here, in New York City, living and breathing and… _real_. Complete and utterly real.

 The directions on the paper told Newt that he should really head the opposite direct to the one he was facing. But his wrist tugged him forward, pleading him to continue walking. He could feel shoulders barraging into him impatiently as he stood in the middle of the pathway, wrist held right in front of his eyes. Merlin’s beard, he must look completely mad! And he knew should care but he didn’t. He didn’t care if he looked like an absolute nutter, because his soulmate was so close – so close in fact that his soul mark was jittering. Wriggling excitedly on his skin, the edges of the normally black arrow tinting in gold.

 Without further consultation from his head, Newt’s legs took off running. Frank would have to wait a little longer to be returned home, unfortunately. His creatures were his priority first and foremost, but this… this was his soulmate. His other half in every sense of the word whether that be romantically or platonically, this person was meant to understand Newt in a way that no one else could. There wasn’t anything he wanted more than to be understood by someone. Anyone. It had been so long since he had felt that way. Gulping galleons why couldn’t his legs move faster?

 He skidded to a stop as the arrow suddenly twisted and pointed east, directing him down a wide bustling street filled with muggles. An overhead train roared above him as he half walked, half ran towards a large white building, a crowd of people gathered around what seemed to be a preacher who was shouting rather loudly.

 “… This great city sparkles with the jewels of man’s invention! Movie theatres, automobiles, the wireless, electric lights – all dazzle and bewitch us!” The preacher, a middle-aged woman dressed in a modest black dress with a bright purple coat, screeched at the crowd surrounding her.

 Newt approached the scene cautiously, his wrist falling to his side as it continued to quiver and writhe. His soulmate was here. Somewhere in the crowd. He brushed past a figure, who he assumed was a woman from her delicate shoulders and quaint lilac hat and staggered over her.

 “So sorry,” He said in her direction but continued to move forward. His wrist was practically on fire now.

 “But where there is light,” The preacher continued, her eyes danced in delight as she captivated the crowd. “There is shadow, friend. Something is stalking our city, wreaking destruction and then disappearing without a trace…”

 Newt’s eyes flickered around the crowd again, his eyes desperately bouncing from person to person.

 “We have to fight!” The preacher screamed. “Join us, the Second Salemers, in our fight!”

 And then a short, stocky man with black cropped hair just so happened to trip over Newt’s case. Newt forgot momentarily about the mark buzzing on his wrist and helped to haul the man back on his feet, eyes scanning for any injury.

 “I’m so sorry,” He said, his voice utterly flustered. “My case – ”

 “No harm done,” The man said gruffly as he got his bearings and quickly moved away from Newt and towards the steps, passing the preacher with a quick “Excuse me!” and trudging up to the building ahead. The preacher’s eyes turned on Newt eagerly.

 “You, friend!” She called to him. “What drew you to our meeting today?”

 “Oh… I was just … passing,”

 He could feel the crowd eyeing him and he hunched his shoulders slightly, cowering under the weight of people’s stares. His mark was aching so very much, if he simply looked at it once more -

 “Are you a seeker? A seeker after truth?”

 Newt bit his lip, fingers tightening on his case. “I’m more a chaser, really,”

 “Hear my words and heed my warning,” The woman hissed. “and laugh if you dare: witches live among us!”

 His mother had assured him that he’d never be able to miss his soulmate and now he completely understood why. For he hadn’t felt pain like this since the mark had first blossomed on his skin, pulsing as it if were alive. He couldn’t ignore it any longer. He lifted his wrist to his face again, eyes fixating on the arrow.

 “We have to fight together for the sake of our children – for the sake of tomorrow!”

 The mark was pointing backwards. His soulmate was somewhere behind him. Inches away from how much the mark had turned golden, only a few small specks of black remained. They were right there behind him. Alive and solid and everything –

 “What do you say to that, friend?” The preacher addressed Newt again.

 He raised his eyes to look at her, but his words got caught in his throat. On the steps in front of the building, looking prouder of itself than ever, sat his Niffler. Newt looked down at his case frantically, as the Niffler began to steal coins from a poor beggar’s hat. Newt whipped his head back up to stare at the creature. The Niffler did not fail to notice his owner’s gaze and quickly began to shove the beggar’s coins into his stomach pouch before scurrying away into the building of what Newt now presumed was a bank.

 Newt had a split second to make a decision. He could either run after his creature, as he should, and recapture it, or he could stay. Turn around and meet his soulmate. His wrist was starting to shake from how close in proximity he was to them. They were right behind him for Merlin’s sake! It surely wouldn’t take long to say a quick hello and introduce himself?

 But he couldn’t just let his Niffler run free. No, that would not do. It would not make a great first impression either, having to dash off after only a moment of meeting. He knew what he needed to do.

 Newt jolted forward rapidly. Feet barely touching the ground as he sprinted up the stairs, calling a quick “Excuse me!” as he passed the preacher. His wrist screamed in agony as he went, tugging at him to turn around, to go back. But he couldn’t. Not yet.

  _I’ll come back for you_ , he thought as he dashed up the stairs. _I promise_.

 

~

 

“Witches live among us!”

Tina hadn’t planned to be outside the bank that afternoon. If anything she’d tried to avoid the spot all day, walking down different back streets and avoiding the Salem Seekers as much as humanly possible. But her legs had just carried her there. She'd been watching the entire spectacle unfold before her eyes, Mary Lou Barebone preaching away stupidly as she always did outside of the bank. Her poor children giving out flyers left, right, and centre.

 She knew she technically shouldn’t have been there, she’d been suspended from the case after all and demoted to menial desk work by MACUSA but… she couldn’t leave Credence to fend for himself. She had wanted to watch over him.

 Now, however, it seemed there was a different reason her body had forced her to come to this specific spot today. And it wasn’t because of Credence nor his horrid mother. No, it was because Tina’s mark had been aching all day and now, she understood why as she watched in awe, choking on her hot dog, as her mark span swiftly around her wrist and pointed north. The arrow began to glint with golden flecks.

 She stared in wonder as the mark pointed at the lanky, red haired British man who’d bumped into her only moments before. A man who was now running wildly up the steps to the bank like his life depended on it.

 A man who just so happened to be her soulmate.


	5. The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tina and Newt finally meet just not in the circumstances either one of them would have liked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone.
> 
> Thank you all for waiting so patiently for this chapter. Honestly I really hated writing this one, like I too have been really excited for the two of them to finally meet but this chapter was so hard to write because I was trying to stay canon-divergent and it just wasn't as fun as the other chapters have been. I'm sorry if I have diverged but I'm going to diverge a lot more in the future as well because otherwise it's just too difficult to write.
> 
> Thanks for all being so understanding and I'm sorry if there spelling mistakes, I honestly just wanted this chapter out ASAP so it hasn't been beta-read yet. 
> 
> Thanks again for all your support <3

To say Tina was stressed was an understatement. To say she was slightly hysterical, nauseous, and a little bit unhinged was much more akin to how she was feeling.

 She’d immediately ran after the red-haired man when he’d to move. She hadn’t even really known she was moving until she tripped over one of the bank’s steps. She groaned but immediately pulled herself up from the floor and kept moving. Her body was more in control of her at this point then her mind. It was as if the mark had taken over her body and was forcing her legs to move. Like she was possessed.

 If she didn’t get to her soulmate, if she lost them… Her gut wrenched. She didn’t even want to entertain that thought. Tina would find him.

 She forced herself to slow down and take a deep breath. It wouldn’t do her any good to run head first into the bank when she had no business being in there. No, she would wait outside for him. The man surely wouldn’t be that long, especially when he could feel his own mark sizzling away on his skin. Rationally, Tina knew this was the right thing to do. Stalking her soulmate was hardly the politest way of meeting after all. However, she wasn’t thinking rationally, in fact she was thinking rather irrationally and the last thing she wanted to do was wait outside. Her skin itched desperately to go in.

 Surely it wouldn’t hurt if she just went inside and had a peek? It’s not as if she was breaking any rules after all. Tugging her coat tighter around her body and holding her wrist out to guide her, Tina quickly walked into the bank. Her eyes darted all over the place, flitting from stranger to stranger helplessly.

 The bank was incredibly crowded, more so than normal, and Tina had knocked into far too many No-Majs already. She wasn’t meant to be drawing attention to herself, yet, here she was doing exactly that. She’d actively been avoiding highly No-Maj populated areas, but it was hardly as if her soulmate had given her the choice. And there was no way in hell she was losing that chance just because she’d been ordered by MACUSA to stay put.

 Her soul mark blazed as she moved further into the bank, rounding corners which led to Merlin knows where. After a few minutes she somehow found herself on the lower levels of the bank, slightly lost, when her eyes snagged onto a head of red hair. The mark immediately flared as she watched the man scurry across the bank floor towards a large circular vault door, a short and round man with flat black hair following reluctantly after him. There was a certain frantic quality about the way the man was moving. As if he was desperately trying to find something… or someone. The pair were conversing in what could only be described as panicked whispering, and Tina began to take a step closer when the man with red hair turned towards her direction and she threw herself behind a pillar without thinking.

 “I was – over there. I was… over there?” The short man questioned, confusion coating his tone.

 Tina peeked out from behind the pillar and watched as the other man, who’s presence was making her wrist throb awfully, ignored the shorter man entirely and intently opened his battered leather case. Tina’s eyes widen as she saw what was coiled around the man’s delicate fingers.

 “In you hop,” He whispered tenderly as he placed the creature into the case. “No. Everyone settle down – Stay. Dougal, don’t make me come in there…”

 She watched half reverent, half terrified as the man continued to speak gently down into his case as wails of impatient roiled from within it. Tina didn’t understand what was happening, what she had just seen slither into the man’s case. She knew logically it wasn’t anything from the No-Maj world. No normal snake looked like that. So what was it? And more importantly why was this man… _her soulmate_ , harbouring such a creature in his case?

 “Absolutely not!” The man suddenly cried as a tiny, black blur scurried towards the central vault. It squeezed itself through the locked doors in a feat which should have been downright impossible and disappeared entirely from view.

 The redhaired man dashed after the creature, pulling out a wand from his back pocket as he ran and brandishing it at the vault doors.

 “Alohomora!”

 With a hiss the locks and cogs of the vault door began to turn. Tina held her breath. She had an overwhelming urge to sprint down there and fix the mess her other half had created. Performing magic in front of a No-Maj! Opening a high-security bank vault! He’d only been in the bank for a few minutes and he’d somehow managed to cause complete chaos. Tina thought it would be funny, if she wasn’t so agitated.

 Then another man, a slightly older and dour fella, rounded the corner as the vault door open crept open.

 “Oh, so you’re gonna steal the money, huh?” The older man shouted as he raced forward towards the doors.

“Petrificus Totalus!”

With a squawk of indignation the older man’s body locked up, his muscles stiffening and his face freezing in anger. His body rocked for a moment and then fell backwards with a crack, flat against the cool ground.

 He’d attacked a No-Maj. Her… her soulmate had knowingly attacked a No-Maj. Something hot coiled around Tina’s heart and squeezed, compressing her lungs and making her breathing ragged. The redhaired man continued on as if nothing had even happened, and Tina burned with fury. _How could he_ , she thought as she pressed her fingernails into her palms leaving little crescent imprints in her skin, _how could he risk exposing us like this!_

There was a flurry of action and she wasn’t entirely sure what was happening anymore. She could hear the bank alarms screaming in the corridors. Hear the heavy footsteps of the bank guards pounding down the steps and along the marble flooring.  The sound of sweaty fingers caressing the triggers of guns. And then there a familiar pop of air and Tina knew that the man had disapparated.

 After a few minutes of frantic searching, she found the pair quarrelling in a side alley behind the bank. The redhaired man was frantically shoving the small, black creature back into his case and the other man was having somewhat of a nervous breakdown. Tina heard rather than saw the man obliviate the No-Maj. There was a loud whack and a body slumped to the floor, whilst a pair of retreating footsteps resounded against the concrete. She hadn't heard any incantation though, and she bit her lip out of worry. 

 “Bugger!” He cursed as he cradled his head and began to pick himself up.

 This was it then. She had to fix the mess he’d made in the bank, it was her job after all. She’d have to actually talk to him. After all these years of imagining this moment… this wasn’t how Tina pictured it at all. Mercy Lewis, she wasn’t ready. She wasn’t ready for this at all. Her whole body felt like a live wire as she left her spot and turned to walk down the alley.

 She looked more confident then she felt as she strode straight towards the man down the alleyway. The man feigned nonchalance as he approached her, but Tina could see the awe brewing in his face as she grew closer. Her wrist was screaming. Burning and boiling, searing her flesh. She knew if she looked down at her wrist now it would be almost entirely golden, but she didn’t dare… she didn’t dare look.

 The man brushed her shoulder and colour burst behind Tina’s eyelids. Golds, and ambers, and browns, exploded in her eyes, blinding her for a moment. The air around her blazed at the contact and everything was far too loud, far too incomprehensible. She didn’t think as she wildly reached out and grabbed the man’s elbow, letting the cool air of apparition take them both away.

 She apparated them into a dark corner, trying to ignore the way her palms burned as she tried to shove the man away from her.

 And then Tina was staring right into the man’s face. He was a disaster of limbs, and unruly hair and Tina couldn’t breathe. Her eyes roamed his face, catching on the numerous freckles which were scattered underneath the man’s eyes and across his cheeks. As if someone had dipped a paintbrush in the colours amber and brown and flicked it across his face. She hadn’t realised that freckles could be so captivating, so… enthralling. But it wasn’t just the man’s freckles that had bewitched her. It was his light blue, almost green, eyes which had too and the long light brown lashes which accompanied them. The way his thin lips were twisted halfway between rapture and terror. How his fingers were still squeezed gently around her arm. He was everything… absolutely everything.

 Yet, he wasn’t. He was a criminal. He’d broken MACUSA law and it was her job, her _responsibility_ , to arrest people like him. She was obliged to arrest him, it was her duty, her purpose -

 “It’s you, ” The man breathed reverently, his lips curling into the sweetest smile Tina had ever seen.

 And she couldn’t… she couldn’t….

 “Who are you?” Tina demanded in an icy tone, the words so nearly killing her.

 “I’m sorry?”

 “Who are you!”

 “Newt Scamander. And you are?”

 Tina bit her lip to stop herself from blurting out her name. “What’s that thing in your case?”

 Newt blinked at her, his mouth twisted in confusion. “I don’t, er, mean to be… hasty or anything, but surely there are more important things we should be discussing right now?”

 Tina raised one of her eyebrows and ignored the searing pain in her wrist entirely. “Such as?”

  Newt stared pointedly down at her wrist, his eyes roaming hungrily over the area. Her coat concealed her wrist entirely, she always made sure it did, but she still clamped her fist over her wrist self-consciously, heat blooming in her cheeks.

 “I’m gonna ask again, Mr Scamander, what’s that _thing_ in your case?”

 “That’s my Niffler,” Newt sighed and lifted his eyes back her face. “Er, you’ve got something on your – ”

 “Why in the name of Deliverance Dane did you let that thing loose?” Tina hissed.

 “I didn’t mean to! He’s incorrigible, you see, anything shiny and he’s all over the place – ”

 “You didn’t mean to?”

 “No.”

 Tina relaxed slightly. It seemed her soulmate wasn’t a complete idiot after all then. It had been an accident. Accident or not, she couldn’t help but think, he’d still brought a magical creature from overseas which was illegal. The logical side of her was practically screaming at her, she knew she should take him, it was her job after all. But Mercy Lewis, she didn’t want to! This man was her soulmate after all. The one person in this world, aside from Queenie, who Tina would do anything to protect. She didn’t want to do this –

 “I’m sorry but… what was your name again?” Newt said softly, his arm reaching out towards her.

 Tina jerked back. “Mr Scamander, you could not have chosen a worse time to let that creature loose! We’re in the middle of a situation here!”

 “Yes, and I’m terribly sorry – ”

 “I’m taking you in!” Tina squeaked suddenly without thinking.

 “You’re taking me in where?”

 With shaky fingers, Tina pulled out her official MACUSA ID card and watched the blood drawn from Newt’s face. She could taste bile on the back of her tongue. This didn’t feel right. Something deep inside of her soul was yelling at her that this, betraying your soulmate, your twin flame, whatever you wanted to call it, was cosmically wrong.

 “To the Magical Congress of the United States of America,” She said, her tone clipped.

 “So, you, er, work for MACUSA?” Newt asked politely though Tina could hear the underlying nervousness in his voice. See it dancing in his blue eyes. She hated how she could do that already. “What are you, some kind of investigator?”

 “Uh huh,”

 His posture immediately became defensive, and he moved his case behind his back protectively. Tina’s heart panged with sadness. Of course, he had every right to behave this way. He had no reason to trust her now, she was arresting him! How else was the poor man meant to react?

 She stuffed her ID card back into her coat, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment and shame. She shouldn’t be doing this, it felt wrong. So very very wrong.

 “Can you please tell me you took care of the No-Maj?”

 “The what?” Newt asked, his eyebrows furrowing with confusion. He looked so cute when he did that…

 “The No-Maj! No-magic, the non-wizard!”

 “Oh sorry, we call them muggles.”

 A sense of panic had overcome her now. “You wiped his memory, right? The No-Maj with the case?”

 If he hadn’t, she’d have to… She wouldn’t have a choice.

 “Um…” Newt stared guilty down at his shoes.

 Tina squeezed her eyes shut tightly for a moment and breathed in raggedly. This was it then, she’d have to take him in. It was one thing to maybe turn a blind eye to an escaped magical creature, it was an entirely other thing to ignore the fact that a No-Maj had witnessed that escapement and had now had a  brief glimpse of the magical world. New York was already on high alert what with the Salem Seekers, and the unknown force creeping around the city. Now if a No-Maj happened to mention the fact that they had seen a magical creature running around the Steen National Bank, she knew it could lead to the exposure of the entire wizarding community.

 It wasn’t his fault though. Newt’s, that is. England had very different wizarding laws from America, and he wasn’t to know what he was walking into when he arrived. Nonetheless, he’d still committed a crime. Tina’s stomach churned at the thought. Her soulmate was a criminal. Not an intentional one, mind you, but a criminal, nonetheless. She couldn’t help but feel as if the universe was playing some kind of cosmic joke on her. That her, of all people, would wind up finding her soulmate whilst they were unknowingly committing a crime, was truly laughable. Queenie would have a field day once she found out.

 “That’s a section 3A, Mr Scamander.” She finally whispered. She could hear the heartache in her own voice and watched Newt’s eyes widen as he too heard the tone. “I’m taking you in.”

 She glanced at his face as she lunged for his arm. A mixture of confusion, shock, but mostly hurt played across his features, knocking the wind out of her. It was his eyes that she saw last before they apparated, and it wasn’t confusion, or shock, or even hurt that she saw lying in them, but betrayal.

  _How could you_ , Newt’s eyes screamed at her. _I don’t know_ , she thought as her hand closed around his coat sleeve, _but I’m so sorry_.

 Then they disapparated.


End file.
